BOROUGH OF POOLE

TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY GROUP – THURSDAY 26 JULY 2007

JOINT REPORT OF HEADS OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S INTEGRATED SERVICES AND CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES – STRATEGY, QUALITY & IMPROVEMENT

ON A SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL TRAVEL STRATEGY

  1. Purpose of Report and Policy Context

1.1.To inform Members of the general duty on local authorities to promote the use of sustainable travel and transport.

1.2.To seek Members’ agreement to the proposed Sustainable School Travel Strategy for Poole set out in Appendix A.

1.3.Sustainable school travel contributes to the Council’s Corporate Objectives of Supporting Children and Young People, Promoting Health and Well-being and Protecting Poole’s Environment.

  1. Recommendations

2.1Members are asked to support the proposed Sustainable Modes of Travel Strategy be adopted by the Borough of Poole (attached as Appendix A).

  1. Information

3.1The Education and Inspections Act 2006 places a general duty on local authorities to promote the use of sustainable travel and transport.

3.2There are four main elements to the duty:

(a)An assessment of the travel and transport needs of children, and young people within the authority’s area.

(b)An audit of the sustainable travel and transport infrastructure within the authority that may be used when travelling to and from, or between schools/institutions.

(c)A strategy to develop the sustainable travel and transport infrastructure within the authority so that the travel and transport needs of children and young people are better catered for; and,

(d)The promotion of sustainable travel and transport modes on the journey to, from, and between schools and other institutions

3.3The Act defines sustainable modes of travel as those that the local authority considers may improve the physical well-being of those who use them, the environmental well-being of all or part of the local authority’s area, or a combination of the two. For example, walking and cycling are likely to improve the health of those travelling on foot or by cycle, and may well bring environmental benefits from reduced levels of congestion and pollution. Similarly bus use or car sharing might be considered to bring environmental benefits in comparison to individuals travelling by car.

3.4Following the assessment of pupil needs, and audit of sustainable transport infrastructure that supports travel to school, local authorities must develop a strategy for developing that infrastructure so that it better meets the needs of children and young people in their area. The strategy should be evidence based and be a statement of the authority’s overall vision, objectives and work programme for improving accessibility to schools. Local authorities must monitor the implementation of their strategy and revise as necessary.

3.5The Borough of Poole has been encouraging and supporting sustainable school travel for a number of years and this contributes to fulfilling the strategic aims contained within the Local Transport Plan (LTP):

(a)Reducing congestion

(b)Improving Accessibility

(c)Improving Road Safety

(d)Protecting and enhancing the environment

3.6Expenditure in this area is principally through the Capital Programme. However, a small additional revenue grant of £8,694 to assist with the audit work has been received from DfES.

3.7The outcome is monitored through a mandatory indicator of the LTP (Mode Share of Journeys to School). Work to date has been in collaboration with the Children & Young People Service Unit and has included assisting schools to develop School Travel Plans, small-scale engineering works outside schools and promotional activities directed by the Transportation Services School Travel Advisor.

3.8Local authorities are required to publish their Sustainable Modes of Travel Strategy on their website by 31 August each year. Reference to the strategy should also be made in the composite prospectus (Parent’s Guide to Schools in Poole).

3.9A proposed Sustainable School Travel Strategy is set out in Appendix A. This strategy will be developed to provide published information relating to each school for the use of parents.

3.10Members are asked to support the proposed Sustainable School Travel Strategy.

JULIAN McLAUGHLIN

Head of Transportation Services

STUART TWISS

Head of Children & Young People’s Services – Strategy, Quality and Improvement

VICKY WALES

Children & Young People’s Integrated Services

APPENDIX A – Proposed Sustainable School Travel Strategy

Background Information

Home to School Travel and Transport Guidance

Officer Contact: John McVey (01202) 262221

4 July 2007

TAG

Appendix A

Proposed Sustainable School Travel Strategy

July 2007

CONTENTSPage No.

Preface 2

1. Introduction2

2. Transportation background3

3. The Strategies:3-4

4. Appendix 15

  1. National and local context
  2. Aims and objectives
  3. Setting targets
  4. Roles and responsibilities
  5. Local partnerships
  6. Methodology
  7. Monitoring
  8. Good practice
  9. Barriers to success and answers

Appendix 1A – Trajectory of travel plans

PREFACE

The Education & Inspections Act 2006 requires the local authority to assess the travel and transport needs of children and young people in the area and to undertake an audit of the routes to and from school. This information should then be used to develop and promote a strategy on sustainable transport to facilitate safer, healthier and more sustainable journeys to, and between, schools and other institutions.

1.INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this document is to set out how the Borough of Poole will contribute to the effective promotion, development, monitoring and implementation of the travel and transport needs and wants for school and college communities within the Borough.

This strategy aims to reduce car use by encouraging more sustainable modes of travel, in particular bus or other public transport use, promoting the health benefits of physical activity and making the routes and journey to and from school safer for all. All schools are encouraged to prepare a travel plan and assistance and encouragement with this is available from the local authority. It is apparent that when a school has its agreed travel plan, the process of assessing needs and wants is made easier, so all schools are encouraged to have an up to date travel plan.

Measures proposed and used may include:-

  • mapping & assessing the routes used by children & young people (to include engineering/infrastructure statements)
  • improved facilities for cyclists, pedestrians and public transport routes identified in any assessment of routes to school
  • assisting schools to set up “walking buses”
  • providing/promoting public transport use by children and their families for journeys to and from school/college/children’s centre and between centres throughout the whole school day, including recommendations for the behaviour of young travellers.
  • expanding and supporting independent travel training for students with special needs
  • links to related initiatives (e.g. Healthy Schools, Primary Care Trust work on childhood obesity)
  • special long- or short-term walking promotions or events; walking buses / park and walk / the passport to health
  • cycle and pedestrian training (including road safety education)
  • improvements to/promotion of public transport services

2TRANSPORTATION BACKGROUND

2.1An effective transport system and an accessible infrastructure are essential to the future of Poole and for the quality of life of its residents. Supporting Children and Young People, Promoting Health & Well-being and Protecting Poole’s Environment are all Corporate Objectives for the Council and Reducing Poole’s Carbon Footprint is a Priority. The challenge now faced is to develop a travel and transport infrastructure which is efficient, acceptable, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable and with it, a set of linked sustainable travel strategies. In this case, the aim is to create a suitable physical and ethical environment which will enable children and young people, and their families to travel to school by bus, bicycle and on foot.

2.2The Borough of Poole, in conjunction with its neighbours Bournemouth Borough Council and Dorset County Council, adopted a Local Transport Plan with the shared vision of "an integrated transport system that is safe, sustainable and accessible for all and that will assist in achieving a quality of life that is of the highest standard". Successful school travel plans have already brought a measure of success to the Borough in terms of providing small-scale engineering measures and some modal shift. Over half its maintained schools now have an agreed travel plan (July 2007). The strategies are linked to the outcomes of travel plans but may be implemented separately since many of them aim to modify travel behaviour and ways of thinking

3.THE STRATEGIES

3.1Summary of strategies

STRATEGY 1The Borough of Poole will work with all schools in the Borough to develop approved travel plans in accordance with national guidance.

Safer, healthier journeys to and from school, with an emphasis on non-car modes of travel are a mainstay of this policy. The needs of children and young people who choose to walk or cycle to & from school or who travel by bus or train are covered by the existing walking & cycling policies and the Home to School passenger transport policies.

These travel plans will support the outcomes of the Healthy Schools Programme and make a contribution to the outcomes of related strategies and policies, including those of the Primary Care Trust and of the Children & Young People’s Plan.

All schools will be invited to make their own statements supporting sustainable journeys as part of the admissions documentation and in their school travel plan.

There are a number of partners outside the Council who may be approached for assistance and guidance as necessary or appropriate.

Targets:

No. of School Travel Plans in Place 2007/8: / 24 (56%)
No. of School Travel Plans in Place 2008/9: / 30 (85%)
No. of School Travel Plans in Place 2009/10: / 42 (100%)

STRATEGY 2The Council will promote non-car modes of travel as an alternative for many of the journeys to and from school.

There are four main tasks which will enable this:

  • An assessment of the travel and transport needs of the school population
  • An audit of the infrastructure around schools
  • A strategy to develop the infrastructure and
  • The promotion of sustainable travel

The Council will organise regular meetings (between the School Travel Adviser, school representatives, the Healthy Schools Co-ordination Team and other partners e.g. PCT) to assess the travel and transport needs of all children for each school (during a review of existing travel plans and as part of the process of writing a new one) and at the same time, they will discuss a joint audit of the infrastructure around the school.

Council Officers will investigate the feasibility and desirability of a number of physical measures as well as some ‘smarter choices’ – the principal mechanism being the Work outside Schools group in conjunction with the schools for the future team.

Whenever a need for training or education (e.g. cycle training or road safety education) is highlighted by a school, this will be provided by the Council in appropriate venues and by the appropriately trained officers or their representatives.

As and when funding for schemes and projects becomes available, then the Council will bring these to the attention of any school, college or relevant individual and will support and promote any scheme or project with any or all schools if they choose to use the funding.

One barrier to the acceptance of the bus as a viable alternative is the anti-social behaviour of a minority of passengers. The Council will address with schools, in line with the Education & Inspections Act, the need for promoting and supporting appropriate behaviour with young travellers, rewarding good behaviour and using sanctions. The Council will work with the operators, the young people of Poole, parents and school representatives to devise a suitable mechanism.

The Borough of Poole will monitor progress on the development and implementation of this strategy and on the outcomes of related projects.

The collection of travel mode data will continue through the school census. Council officers will be able to access relevant information (for example, postcode and mode of travel) which is provided by the schools.

Each school will also be invited periodically to carry out its own hands-up survey of travel habits as a comparator for the data collected by the census under the agreement set out in the travel plan.

Information and relevant data as well as expertise will be shared with colleagues in, for example, the Healthy Schools programme, where there is considerable overlap. Collaboration will make it easier to avoid duplication and repetition.

Targets:

As measured via the annual school census:

MODE OF TRAVEL & TARGET
To increase the % of children and young people over 2007 baseline who:
January 2007 (baseline) / By December 2007/8 to / By December 2008/9 to / By December 2009/10 to
Walk / 38% / 38.5% / 39% / 39.5%
Cycle / 6% / 7% / 7% / 8%
Bus / 13% / 13.5% / 14% / 14.5%
Train / 0.2% / 0.2% / 0.2% / 0.2%
Other* / 12% / 12% / 12% / 12%
And thus reduce the percentage of children and young people travelling by:
Car/Taxi / 30.8% / 28.8% / 27.8% / 25.8%

*: Other includes scooters, skateboards etc.

STRATEGY 3The Council will continue to secure the provision of transport for fare-paying scholars who are not entitled to assistance under the Borough’s School Transport Policy, subject to regular performance review by the Route & Branch Working Group.

A number of local school bus services are provided through subsidy as part of the Council’s supported bus network. These principally cater for fare-paying children not entitled to assistance under the Council’s Home-to-School transport policy although some “entitled” children are carried.

The Borough of Poole established a Route & Branch working group of Members to monitor and review the Council’s local bus contracts. The Route & Branch group will consider requests for additional bus services alongside the performance of existing supporting services to ensure the available subsidy is appropriately targeted.

There will also be an opportunity to explore funding streams in relation to children & young people with special needs, and to students wishing to travel further for vocational education and to ’entitled’ and ‘non-entitled’ children/students.

This need for extra funding to support statutory school transport may increase as more students are judged ‘eligible’ for transport following changes to the criteria for low-income families.

Appendix 1

1NATIONAL AND LOCAL CONTEXT

1.1This strategy directly supports national policy for encouraging sustainable travel choices for the journey to school, set out in “Travelling to School: an action plan” published jointly by DfT and DfES in 2003 and takes note of the new legislative requirements for home to school transport.

1.2The Borough of Poole’s local aims and objectives set out in the Local Transport Plan also reflect those national aims. In particular this strategy will help in achieving specific targets for reducing traffic growth, reducing journeys to school by car, and casualty reduction at least during the period of the plan (to 2011) i.e.

  • Reduce rate of growth of traffic on roads by 50%
  • Reduce fatal and serious road traffic casualties by 40%
  • 50% reduction in number of children injured
  • Reduce car trips to school by 30%
  • Extend the cycle network to all major employers, schools, colleges and leisure attractions

There will be a programme to promote sustainable journeys across the whole school community, using travel plans as a basis for an analysis of needs and wants, school census as the data collection system and occasional hands-up surveys as a control. Council officers will carry out an audit of the infrastructure around schools to identify what facilities exist for pedestrians and cyclists. A representative of each school will be invited to assist to add local knowledge.

This audit and other relevant information will be made available via the internet.

2AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

2.1The Borough of Poole will work with all parts of the community to develop this strategy in accordance with the Home to School Travel & Transport guidance and other local and national policies and strategies.

2.2This strategy has a number of primary objectives:

  • To promote and support walking, cycling and public transport as alternatives to the private car for the journey to and from school & college,
  • To mitigate the congestion caused by journeys to school by car,
  • To reduce the number of non-sustainable, and unnecessary, journeys to school by car.
  • To increase the opportunities for travel to school in a sustainable and safe way though improving whenever possible the local infrastructure.
  • To contribute to Local Transport Plan objectives for increasing accessibility and safety, environmental improvement and reducing traffic congestion and air pollution
  • To make significant contributions to the Local Education Authority’s policies for and including admissions, inclusion and accessibility.
  • To encourage closer co-operation between partners (which will include service units within the authority, the Primary Care Trust and others)
  • To raise awareness of access to training for walking and cycling skills
  • To promote walking and cycling for a healthy lifestyle
  • To increase the number of children and young people using the bus as their principal mode of travel to and from school (& between schools ) and
  • To ensure that journeys to and from school are a safe and pleasant experience.

3SETTING TARGETS

3.1To meet the statutory requirements, this strategy will be effective from August 2007.

3.2Some schools may require significant levels of assistance in addition to advice to prepare for these new arrangements and targets. Education provision is currently under review in Poole and the resultant restructure will have an impact on sustainable school travel. It is therefore important that school travel is considered as part of that review.

3.3The Borough of Poole will assist school communities to access new technology to assist them in the assessment of need for and the promotion of sustainable journeys.

3.4Travel to school behaviour in Poole, based on aggregated survey data, is shown in the table below: (% of each school population using each mode)

Annual result / BUS / WALK / CYCLE / CAR / OTHER
2001 % / 13.7 / 37.6 / 3.7 / 43.6 / 1.4
2002 % / 12.0 / 40.9 / 3.2 / 40.9 / 1.6
2003 % / 4.8 / 38.3 / 2.5 / 51.8 / 0.8
2004 % / 12.9 / 39.0 / 5.0 / 39.4 / 0.04

New data on mode of travel to school has been added from the School Census (November 2006-January 2007)